A graphic and unsettling video circulating online appears to show a woman screaming as multiple ICE officers restrain her at the scene of a roadside collision.
The footage was shared on X by journalist Aaron Rupar and had been viewed more than 549,000 times as of his post at 11:18 PM on January 11, 2026. Rupar wrote that someone sent him the clip from the Twin Cities and described the audio as disturbing.
In the video, the person filming drives past what looks like a crash site where a large SUV appears to have struck a lamppost. Several officers are visible around a woman who is on the ground, with agents holding her as she cries out. The woman can be heard pleading, “please, please, don’t touch my kids.” The clip has not been officially verified, and the circumstances leading up to the scene are unclear.
The post follows heightened public attention around a separate recent incident described online in which an ICE agent was recorded shouting a slur before shooting a woman five times.
Commenters on social media debated what the woman was saying and what exactly was happening. One user asked for clarification about her words, while another offered an interpretation suggesting she was trying to show identification and pleading for her children not to be touched. Others said they could hear references to children and described the woman as sounding terrified and possibly in pain.
Several people who said they witnessed the aftermath added their own accounts. Quentin Ocama, MAT, M.Ed, described what he said he saw at Snelling and I-94, alleging a collision, a woman being pulled from a vehicle, and officers leaving the scene. Tia Steffen claimed the damaged SUV belonged to the woman and alleged that no ambulance was called and that the woman received no medical care before being taken away in handcuffs.
Another commenter identifying as “Former Republican” suggested the woman may have been injured and argued that restraining her in that condition could violate constitutional protections and humanitarian standards, though these assertions have not been independently confirmed.
Not all reactions were critical. Some commenters expressed support for the officers’ actions, while others urged caution and said it was impossible to draw conclusions without more context.
The video is circulating as Democratic lawmakers in several states push proposals aimed at limiting federal immigration agents’ authority and expanding protections for residents during ICE operations. That effort has gained momentum amid public backlash after footage described as showing a Minnesota ICE agent killing a woman in broad daylight.
If passed, the proposed measures would restrict how ICE agents can track and detain people they deem threats, and would also set boundaries around cooperation with local institutions. Some lawmakers have also used more extreme historical comparisons to describe immigration enforcement tactics—language that many elected officials previously avoided.
In New Jersey, state Sen. Britnee Timberlake, who sponsored a bill aimed at limiting cooperation between federal immigration agents and local police, said during a committee hearing on Thursday: “Anyone who is an ancestor of a Holocaust survivor will tell you, this is how it starts,” and pointed to the Minnesota shooting as an example.
The New Jersey proposals also include steps to prevent hospitals and government agencies from collecting immigration information, along with guidance for healthcare facilities and schools on how to respond to ICE agents. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy could sign the bills into law as early as this week.
In New York, state Sen. Pat Fahy has proposed legislation that would bar ICE agents from wearing masks and would create a state portal to track immigration activity. Gov. Kathy Hochul has pledged support for laws allowing residents to sue officers for violating constitutional rights.
“To me, this goes beyond immigration,” Fahy said, according to Politico. “People understand now that masked, armed men in our city and suburban streets [are] seriously eroding any form of public trust in law enforcement. Some of these issues are having more universal appeal.”
Illinois state Sen. Laura Fine has introduced legislation that would bar anyone hired by ICE under the Trump administration from working in state or local law enforcement. Fine said the Department of Homeland Security’s hiring of more than 12,000 sworn ICE agents during Trump’s first term contributed to a culture of escalating violence.
In Tennessee, Republican state Rep. Gabby Salinas has pushed a law that would prevent immigration enforcement on school and church property. “What’s happening in other cities potentially can happen here in Memphis and I don’t want us to lose a life or have these adverse events in schools where kids are supposed to be learning,” Salinas said, adding that she immigrated to Memphis from Bolivia as a child.
